Ch.271Chapter 271 – Side Income

Following the conclusion that we needed to head to a port, we set off toward the nearest one.

Befitting a country that was once powerful enough to be called an empire, the roads of Firenze and the kingdom were well-maintained. Additionally, thanks to the Holy Knights of the Emiris Order who regularly exterminated monsters, the roads were said to be almost free from monster attacks.

Therefore, driving the carriage itself posed no problem.

“If only there weren’t bandits,” I said, kicking one of the rough-looking men lying at my feet.

Not long after we left the village with our carriage, Sia and Beatrice immediately detected a group of bandits nearby.

At first, we considered avoiding them, but following the opinion that saving time was better and that they posed no real threat to us, we decided to ignore them and continue on our way.

Naturally, the bandits blocked our path, but Sia, Beatrice, and I immediately charged at them.

Soon enough, the once-confident bandits were swiftly dealt with.

“Those who don’t understand the difference in strength sure have big demands,” said Sia, wiping her greatsword and kicking one of the bandits sprawled on the ground.

“By the way, I wonder why bandits always say the same things.”

“Like what?”

“You just heard them. ‘Hand over everything you have and give us the women,’ that sort of thing.”

Sia pouted her lips, apparently dissatisfied with this strange point.

“With over thirty heads among them, couldn’t they come up with one or two variations?”

After thinking about Sia’s words for a moment, I came to a conclusion.

“I don’t think they have much else to say.”

If I had to be specific, maybe “pay the toll” would be another option.

Unsatisfied with my answer, Sia grumbled, “They have no creativity, no creativity at all.”

“Isn’t it asking too much to expect creativity from them?”

Given the intellectual level of these bandits, I doubt adding variations would make much difference.

Though Sia was complaining about something so trivial, I didn’t think she would come up with any impressive variations either, but I decided not to press that point.

“More importantly, how did they gather thirty people?”

“They probably rallied from the surrounding area. Something like ‘There’s tasty prey, but we can’t handle it alone, so let’s all attack together and share the spoils,'” said Eve as she approached, collecting valuables from the bandits along with Sera.

“You could have helped us.”

“Since Sera and I didn’t do anything, we should at least do this much.”

Eve said with a somewhat bitter smile.

When the bandits attacked, we had Eve and the other three stay near the carriage for safety, but since the bandits couldn’t break through our front line, the three in the back essentially just watched.

That’s why they volunteered to collect the spoils.

“Since they’re people who became bandits because they had nothing, their pockets are quite empty,” said Sera, showing us pouches containing silver and copper coins.

Apparently, that was all the money they found after searching all thirty bandits.

“Seems like they weren’t making much either.”

“With the country in turmoil, most ordinary people probably don’t venture far from where they live.”

“And those who do are either armed or part of a strong group. There weren’t many targets the bandits could safely approach.”

As Beatrice explained, in such chaos, those traveling would likely be well-armed groups, so the bandits’ poor earnings were inevitable.

In such circumstances, when they spotted us, they probably thought they had to catch us somehow, even if it meant sharing the spoils.

“They probably never imagined we had human weapons among us.”

“Indeed.”

Not just me, but Beatrice and Sia would never fall victim to such bandits unless they were extremely careless.

As Sia said, their failure to properly gauge how much stronger their opponents were had sealed their fate.

While I was thinking this, I noticed Chris quietly praying with folded hands toward the bandits.

“May you be reborn as proper people next time.”

“That prayer sounds nice, but isn’t it actually insulting them?” Beatrice playfully asked.

Hearing Beatrice’s words, Chris smiled and replied, “I had no intention of criticizing, but if that’s how you interpret it, perhaps you have something to feel guilty about?”

Soon I saw Beatrice subtly avert her gaze.

She pushed out her lips slightly and answered, “Fine, I’m a bad woman, whatever.”

“Just live righteously from now on. And quit smoking, it’s bad for your health.”

“…Yes.”

Chris smiled at Beatrice, who had already reached into her pocket. Finally, Beatrice raised both hands in surrender to Chris.

Soon Beatrice began to chuckle, and I saw Chris smiling back at her.

After watching their light exchange, I asked Beatrice a question.

“Don’t the Holy Knights of the Emiris Order deal with bandits?”

“No, they do catch them. But these guys have their own information network.”

Beatrice shrugged as she answered.

“Unlike monsters, when they hear that Holy Knights are patrolling, they quickly disguise themselves as beggars or vagrants and hide in nearby villages.”

“And those who can’t?”

“You know what happens.”

I nodded quietly at Beatrice’s words. If they fail to obtain information about Holy Knights patrolling, the outcome is predetermined.

“It’s a world where the inept don’t survive.”

“That’s how it is everywhere.”

Beatrice nodded in response to my comment. Then Sia approached us.

“By the way, one of them escaped earlier. Is that okay?”

“It’s fine, it’s fine.”

Beatrice grinned at Sia’s question.

“I let him go on purpose.”

She raised her finger as she spoke. A small purple light was flowing from the tip of her finger, and Beatrice smiled as she explained.

“With this, I can track him down wherever he goes for about a day.”

“Why did you place that on him and let him go?”

At Sia’s question, the rest of the group looked at each other briefly. Then they looked at me as if asking me to explain, so I nodded quietly and said:

“Because we need to collect some dues.”

As I had thought before, there were few side incomes as easy to extract as from bandits.

+

A little later, Beatrice and I were running through the forest.

“Didn’t we need to bring Sia?”

“Guarding the carriage is important too.”

There was no need for everyone to go collect dues. We just needed to move quickly, deal with the remaining bandits, and take only the valuable items.

However, Beatrice, who could track the bandit, was essential, and someone who could keep up with her pace needed to accompany her.

In the end, among those capable, I was the one available.

“Won’t there be a fight when we get there?”

“The bandits’ skill level is just what we saw earlier.”

I said to Beatrice as we ran.

“Honestly, that’s not even a warm-up.”

“I could have gone alone.”

Though Beatrice said this, she was quietly smiling, seemingly grateful that I had come along.

After running through the forest for a few minutes, we soon saw a smaller-than-expected encampment ahead.

“Ah, was it a bust?”

Beatrice spoke without much disappointment.

“Maybe I should have let two or three more escape?”

“Eve said they gathered from the surrounding area to attack us. How could we distinguish which ones belonged where?”

I casually replied to Beatrice.

“We’re just stopping by one place since we don’t have much time, right?”

“Well, that’s true.”

This was just a quick detour on our journey; we couldn’t spend all our time hunting bandits.

That’s why we planned to hit just one place, but judging by the size of the encampment, this group didn’t seem particularly powerful.

Still, it wasn’t without benefit.

“There might be two more at most.”

“Or that one might be the last.”

A camp that size wouldn’t have many members to begin with. Therefore, the risk would be minimal.

After muttering with Beatrice, we immediately rushed toward the encampment.

Soon, the bandit who had escaped from us and entered the camp spotted us and came out in terror.

“Damn it all…!”

The bandit shouted and raised a crossbow. I wasn’t sure if he had hidden it here or had it all along.

Soon an arrow was fired from the crossbow, and Beatrice quietly recited something. I felt the surrounding mana move.

-Ting!!

The arrow bent at an unusual angle as it flew, and Beatrice smiled as she said:

“You shouldn’t shoot arrows directly at a mage.”

“Damn it!!”

The bandit shouted and ran back into the encampment. Thinking he might bring more comrades, I watched as he soon emerged dragging someone wearing a hood.

“Stay back! If you come closer, this woman dies!”

Due to the loose clothing, I couldn’t determine the hostage’s gender clearly, but it seemed to be a woman. There appeared to be no other comrades.

After staring at the scene quietly, I remembered my conversation with Sia and shouted:

“Hand over the woman and your valuables, and I’ll spare your life!”

“Hey, Helmet. That’s our line, isn’t it?”

Beatrice looked at me in disbelief.

“Why are you imitating a bandit?”

“Because we’re playing the role of bandits now?”

Since we were attacked by bandits and now robbing them in return, it was technically accurate.

“We’re victims who became perpetrators.”

“I don’t think that’s the right phrase for this situation.”

Though Beatrice said this, she too seemed to have decided to enjoy the moment.

“Would he even fall for that?”

“Right? I thought so too.”

As Sia had pointed out, maybe I needed to add some variation.

“Then try adding some mage tower style variation.”

At my words, Beatrice seriously pondered, stroking her chin. Then she shouted at the bandit who was still trembling while holding the hostage:

“Drop your valuables and the woman and disappear if you want to live!!”

“That’s barely different from what I said.”

“It’s surprisingly hard to say something different.”

I should ask Sia later how to phrase it better.

Soon the bandit began to cry out:

“Stop messing around and get out of here!!”

“Fine.”

I immediately switched my weapon to a bow and shot an arrow. The arrow flew past the bandit and embedded itself in the nearby wall.

“Eek…!”

The bandit momentarily closed his eyes and shrank back. After a moment, realizing he hadn’t been hit, he looked around in confusion, trying to find where the arrow had landed.

I quietly said to the bandit:

“Unfortunately, I’m not an incredible marksman.”

In a situation where the hostage could be hit if I made a mistake, it was difficult to target only the bandit. I could try, but there was a chance I might hit the hostage by bad luck.

So I didn’t take such a risk.

“I just needed to distract you.”

The arrow was merely bait. And the bandit’s mistake was closing his eyes and shrinking back for that moment.

“When did you…!”

Realizing that Beatrice had already approached him, the bandit shouted loudly. But before he could do anything, Beatrice’s fist struck him hard.

Soon the bandit flew into the wall of the encampment behind him, becoming embedded like a decoration.

“Situation resolved.”

Beatrice grinned as she spoke. Then the woman who had been held hostage seemed to lose strength in her legs and was about to collapse. Or perhaps she had been weakened from being held captive.

“Oops.”

Beatrice immediately began supporting her.

“Be careful, miss. Time to go home now?”

I saw Beatrice smiling as she said this. Then, seeing me approach, Beatrice said:

“Helmet, let’s gather what we need and go.”

“What about this lady?”

“Shall we drop her off at a nearby village?”

Beatrice and I briefly discussed what to do with the former hostage. And then…

The woman thrust her head toward Beatrice with a frightening intensity. As Beatrice narrowed her eyes and blocked her approach…

The woman spoke quietly in a trembling voice:

“My goodness…”

Belatedly, the woman’s hood fell back slightly, revealing her face. Beneath the shabby clothes appeared a woman with quite fair skin.

And Beatrice’s eyes, which had been prepared for defense, began to widen.

“You…”

“You’re… alive…”

The woman reached out toward Beatrice. But before she could extend her hand fully, her head tilted, and her hand fell limply.